


Midnight Streets

by marysreddress



Category: Reign (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27723421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marysreddress/pseuds/marysreddress
Summary: The new girl at Fontainebleau Academy, Mary Stuart is partnered with Francis Valois in drama where they play 1500s royalty.
Relationships: Kenna/Sebastian "Bash" de Poitiers, Mary Stuart/Francis de Valois (Reign)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. 1548

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Ribs by Lorde  
> Modern Frary Fic
> 
> My first fic soo don’t judge pls also I have plans for this to have multiple chapters

Mary tugged lightly on her white shirt tucking it into the matching red and blue plaid skirt. Her dark full curls pulled loosely back into a low ponytail and her ears sporting little diamond studs. It was her first day at her new school. Something Mary had become quite used to as she was constantly moving around due to her dad's work. He is a highly renowned lawyer who gets dragged through several states depending on the case. This time she was getting ready to step into the world of Fontainbleu Academy, a well known private school in Washington DC. Something about today felt different though, even being so used to coming into new environments Mary had a strange feeling that this school would be different. But she hadn’t yet worked out whether it would be for the better or worst.

She crept through the hallways quickly moving past any windows or doors she came across so as to not disturb any classes. It was her first day and she was already late. That’s fabulous. She was scanning the doors for the room number R206, where she was supposed to be in a double drama class when she caught a glimpse of long brown hair whipping around the corner. Slowly building to a shuffle Mary followed the girl who appeared to be in the same year level as her. God she was being ridiculous scurrying behind her like a lost puppy. Just go up to her she thought to herself.  
“Hello there!”  
Mary froze as she realised she was speaking her thoughts out loud.  
“Um hi.” She replied sheepishly, starting to blush. The girl had bright blue eyes and a perfect dusting of freckles.  
“You're the new chick right? Mary is it?”  
“Uh yeah that’s me.” Mary replied, her voice still a bit shaky.  
“Nice to meet you Mary. I’m Lola! You have drama right? I do too, come on I’ll take you!” Lola reached out her arm as she started to spin around and bounce down the hallway.  
“Come on I promise you I don’t bite.” She pouted, knitting her eyebrows together looking somewhat like a sad kitten. Mary took her hand and walked behind her to class which was just one floor above. Thank goodness Lola found her because no way would she have thought to go up the stairs.  
“You know what I have a feeling we are going to be great friends!” Mary returned a small chuckle and they headed to class.

-/-

“Ok class now we are going to start preparing for the assignment so I will be putting you all into groups to start work on your scenes. And before you ask, no I will not be letting you get into groups yourself.” The whole class let out a simultaneous sigh as Mr Blackburn finished and started assigning groups. Mary didn’t picture him as the drama teacher type. He wasn’t at all quirky or funny and he dressed more like a math teacher wearing his navy suit and white button up. She wondered if he was just put into this subject because they needed an extra teacher. He didn’t much look like we wanted to be here either.  
“Francis you can go with the new girl Mary Stuart, make sure to make her feel welcome.”  
“Dammit!” Francis sighed apparently a little louder then intended as the whole class turned around to see what happened. Francis went bright red and let out a little chuckle before scurrying to the front of the room to collect his script. Well that’s great. First day and my drama partner already doesn’t like me. Mary nodded to herself whilst grabbing her script and sitting down next to Francis. That would be right.  
“Uh hi.” He said awkwardly, not taking his eyes off of his paper. He was much closer to her now and she quickly examined his face before looking back down at her script. He had bright blue eyes and a tiny scar above his eyebrow. As well as golden curls that fell just above his shoulder. She wanted to ask him how he got his scar but didn’t want to sound like a creep who was checking him out. Besides they only just met who asks that?  
“Hi, uh so I guess you're going to be Jack and I can be Zara?”  
“Yep that sounds about right. From the top?”  
Mary stood up trying to escape the weird tension of their limited conversation. The scene they were performing was about a Scottish Queen who was sent to France to marry its prince. After quickly scanning her lines she sets the paper down and nods to Francis indicating him to start.  
“You can’t behave like this, not at court.” He argues grabbing Mary’s arm to turn her around. She flinches at first but then adjusts to the warmth of his hand.  
“Why, because we’re engaged? But you have no intention of marrying me. What if I told them that? Then this would be over.”  
“That’s not true I- I might marry you.” He stutters, taking a step back.  
“Someday, maybe, if!” She spits growing more annoyed.  
“That doesn’t matter. You could have ruined your chances so that I couldn’t marry you. Even if things go the way we want them to.” After speaking Francis almost seemed shocked by his own words, as he started awkwardly thumbing with his shirt.  
“The way we want them to. And how would we want things to go?” A small smile spread across her face, stepping closer towards Francis until their noses were nearly touching.  
“If you weren’t the future king of France and I was just a girl not the queen of anything. Would you want this?” She asks, studying his face. The dusting of freckles across his cheek. The way his eyebrows slightly knitted together and the hint of dimples on his cheeks which she was sure only surfaced when he truly smiled. She realised she had been staring for too long when he stepped back a little with a huge smirk spread across his face. And she was correct. Dimples.  
He simply looked at her and said wow.  
“What?” Mary replied slightly blushing.  
“Nothing it’s just, you’re the first drama partner I’ve had that can actually act.” He laughed turning to grab his stuff. She didn’t even realise but the bell had gone and the class had already started filling out.  
“I’ll see you round Zara no surname.” He chuckled exiting the classroom.

-/-

The rest of the day went pretty well. She met up with Lola again in her English class and turns out she is in her homeroom as well. All the teachers so far were all very nice although the school was a lot to get used to as it was so much bigger than her previous ones. Mary didn’t see Francis again until lunch, he stood around with a small group of people and was constantly making them all laugh. She watched him from the corner of her eye nearly the whole lunch time, and he seemed to be really popular as everyone went up and had a chat with him for at least for a couple minutes throughout the whole of lunch.  
“Mary this is Greer and Aylee.” Lola announced sitting back down next to Mary.  
“Hello.” She chimed quickly turning back to face them all. Greer had long blonde hair that laid against her shoulders in perfect curls. Aylee sat towards the back of them shying away, she wore her almost porcelain hair in two braids wrapped around the back of her head into a neat bun.  
“Do you guys know what we should do?” Lola turned to Alyee and Greer with a mischievous look in her eye.  
“Go sit at the basketball courts and introduce Mary to some of the lads!” She raised her eyebrows suggestively before turning to grab her food and skip off around the back of the classrooms.  
“Guys are you coming or not?”  
Mary quickly ran after Lola ditching her leftover sandwich in the bin. 

The girls sat under one of the only trees providing shade from the harsh summer sun and watched the guys play basketball. Mary didn’t think they were all that good but everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves.  
“So Mary, you see the guy over there with the dark hair and Nike socks?” Lola pointed over to a guy shooting the ball. He missed but that wasn’t the point .  
“That one? Yeah what about him?”  
“That’s Thomas, I would stay away from him if I was you. I overheard him talking about you to some of the other guys in math.”  
“Wait no nothing bad I just think he’s interested in you!” Lola quickly adds seeing the confused expression on Mary’s face.  
Lola continued to tell her story as Mary listened absent mindedly watching the basketball match. Apparently he acted all sweet to his previous girlfriend until things got pretty serious and he leaked her nudes. The whole school saw and she had to move schools. As the conversation started to slow she noticed a girl running up to meet Francis on the court. She had long blonde hair and a model figure. Just watching her made Mary feel self conscious.  
“If I were you I wouldn’t even bother trying to get with any of the guys here Mary. The only good one is already taken.” Greer sighed bringing Mary back to reality.  
“What do you mean?”  
Francis and the girl seemed to get along very well, they each nudged into each other and Mary even caught Francis trying to throw her off balance by pushing on the inside of her knees. Although much to Francis’s disgust she put up a good fight hardly even wobbling.  
“Francis De Valois funky name right? Wait weren’t you his drama partner? Anyway that’s his girlfriend over there next to him.”  
“Her name is Olivia Damencourt!” Aylee chimed in from the back.  
“Uh yeah he was.” Mary laughed softly in response. She felt almost pained by those words. He didn’t mention that he was in a relationship. What was Mary thinking honestly they just met. He didn’t have to tell her anything. Then why did she feel sad watching them together? 

-/-

The next couple of days went really well. Mary hung around the girls and she felt like they were all growing a really close connection. She was getting let in on the inside jokes and even went to the shopping center near the school with Greer after school one day. Francis didn’t come to school today which meant she had to sit alone in drama. At Least she got to watch Lola and Julien rehearsal which wasn’t that boring. 

That night Mary broke through her bedroom door and threw her bag onto the floor. Why do they make school bags so heavy? As she started to untigh her laces she heard her phone buzzing from inside her bag. She reached in to grab her phone but she didn’t recognise the number on the screen.  
“Hello?” She huffed into the phone failing at untying her double knots.  
“Hey it’s me, Francis.”  
“Uh hi what’s up?” Mary could feel her cheeks flushing with red and her breath started to quicken. How did he get her number anyway. She didn’t remember giving to him.  
“Sorry Lola gave me your number. I just wanted to ask if you wanna come round and practice our drama scenes since I missed them today. We have to present them tomorrow right?” Francis seemed completely cool on the other side of the phone unlike Mary who had already started frantically redoing her hair and rummaging through her cupboard for something to wear.  
“Yeah sure that sounds great, what time should I come round?” At this point she had already made her way to the bathroom scanning her draws for some deodorant and makeup to mask her exhaustion.  
“Maybe 5:30 ish?” He asked. Just at that moment while Mary was running down the stairs her foot got caught on the carpet which sent her toppling down. She smashed her head right into the front door but the rest of her body seemed to still be intact.  
“Mary?” She heard him call from her phone which had slid into the kitchen. Reaching up to the door handle she pulled herself up and limped over to her phone.  
“Sorry um...Yeah that sounds good. Text me the address you've got my number.” Mary laughed softly to herself as she hung up the phone. She was going over to Francis’s house. She also just fell down the stairs but that wasn't even tenth on her current list of priorities. Number one fix up her hair and clothes, two get an ice pack, and three have a shower because deodorant just wasn't going to cut it.


	2. ribs

Francis was sitting at his desk when he caught a glimpse of a girl wandering up the street outside his window. This was the third time she had walked past his house, he didn’t know if she was pacing or just completely lost. Dropping his pen he quickly ran out of his room to the front door.  
“Ooooo who’s that?” Margot sing signed from behind her older brother. All of Francis’s siblings had crowded around the door whispering to eachother.  
“Is it Olivia?” Little Henri called out from the back. Francis could never escape his massive family. Although he loved them all so dearly and played a massive role in raising his younger siblings sometimes he would like some privacy.   
“Come on guys go back and play or something.” Francis yelled under his breath so hopefully Mary wouldn’t hear outside. When none of them moved Francis huffed and proceeded to open the door.  
“Mary it’s this one.” He chuckled whilst calling out to her down near his neighbour's house. She let out a little laugh and awkwardly ran to his door. His house was grand with a massive red door and detailed cream coloured railing around the patio. As well as neatly trimmed hedges and garden beds filled with flowers beginning to bloom.   
“Hey!” She exclaimed as all his siblings started coming into view in the doorway. As soon as he saw Mary little Henri was behind Francis clenching his hips.  
“Hi, um sorry come in.” Francis replied realising they had been standing there a little too long. Mary wore a baggy nirvana t-shirt tucked into a pair of cuffed blue jeans with her long brown hair draped over one shoulder. Francis led her into his kitchen with the siblings continuing to follow close behind them. As he started pulling glasses down from the cupboards he heard Mary taking to his siblings.  
“And who might you two be!” She exclaimed playfully bending down to look at little Henry and Charles.   
“Oh come on I promise I don’t bite.” She continued, Francis knew that his siblings were shy especially the boys as they were the youngest but never normally like this.   
“This is Henry and Charles.” He spoke walking behind the two of them and placing his hands on their shoulders. They both let out a little giggle and ran out of the kitchen. The sounds of their little feet quieting as they made it to their bedroom upstairs.  
“Sorry about them, they’re a little shy around new people.” He slid a glass across the marble bench to Mary along with a bowl of chips. They both made their way over to the chairs near the island bench in his kitchen.  
“All good. How many siblings do you have?” Mary asked, her eyes wandering around the kitchen. Francis could tell that she was feeling a little nervous by the way she was avoiding eye contact with him.   
“Sebastian is the eldest but we all call him Bash and then there is Claude and Margot, my sisters and Charles and little Henri, who you just met.” He said, taking a sip of his water and taking a handful of chips. The house was unusually quiet for this time of day. He couldn’t hear Henri or Charles upstairs, or Claude upstairs, not even the faint sound of the tv in the next room. Usually Francis longed for silence but now he desperately wanted to escape it. For something to intervene in their conversation and take away some of the nerves he was feeling.  
“Um, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot the other day. I promise that I wasn’t trying to be mean or anything, I was just being sarcastic.” He spoke rather softly almost hoping Mary wouldn’t hear. What was it about this girl that made him act so small? Francis never felt awkward or nervous talking to people especially women, what about this one was different?  
When Mary didn’t reply he looked up from his lap to study her face. She furrowed her eyebrows as if thinking what to say and thumbed at the hem of her shirt. After a while she let out a nervous laugh.  
“Why did you say dammit?”   
“I- um...uh.” He sat there puzzled because if he was being honest he didn’t know the answer either.  
“I don’t know, I guess you were sort of intimidating. I didn’t know what else to say.” Mary nodded, still not making eye contact with him. They sat there in comfortable silence for a while until it was interrupted by a small giggle from Mary. He looked up to find her smirking at him holding back laughter.   
“What?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. He had never seen her laugh before. It didn't take long for her face to go red and she was holding her stomach, the laugh now silent. Francis couldn't help but laugh with her, her joy was contagious and she looked so silly when she laughed. He reached for some of his water trying to calm himself down when Henri poked his head out from around the corner. One bye on all of his siblings looked around the corner above little Henri staring at the commotion that was unfolding in front of him. All the sudden the water got stuck in his throat and he let out a massive laugh sending water flying out of his nose and mouth and into Mary's lap. Henri, Charles, Claude and Margot quickly shot back upstairs to escape their older brother's wrath.   
“I am so so sorry.” Francis coughed jumping out of his chair to grab a towel.  
“Its really fine, I promise.” Mary said, trying to reassure him. Francis reached over to wipe her shirt, hesitating a bit before handing it over to her. She wiped and the water from her shirt still giggled under her breath. Francis’s cheeks burned and his face flushed with red.  
“Come with me you can borrow one of Claude's shirts.” Francis gestured towards the staircase and started heading towards them. Mary quickly followed close after. He led her up to Claude's bedroom rummaging through her chest of drawers and finally pulling out a baggy nirvana shirt. Her room much like herself was a little bit hectic but still cohesive. The walls were plasted with different photos of her friends and family, she had a four poster bed with a jewelry stand on her bedside table showing off all her lavish jewelry and pins. Francis although he spent so much time in her room repulsed the smell. It smelled of this mango and green tea body spray he got her a couple years ago for her birthday and she hasn't stopped using it since.   
“Thank you.” Mary said, accepting the shirt. Francis quickly noticed the nervous look on her face and left the room shutting the door behind him.

-/-

“So do you want to go over scene 4 or 5?” Mary asked, spinning around on the spinning chair at Francis’s desk. They had been going over scenes for almost two hours now, going back and forth through the first act and blocking out the scenes. A couple times Mary got distracted whilst she was talking and would step back and topple over his chair or bed. Francis constantly kept apologising but Mary wouldn't stop laughing at him. He loved watching her act. The way her posture changed as soon as the scene started and would transform herself from just Mary to a powerful scotish queen. He loved watching her expressions change, the way her nose scrunched up when she was excited, and how she could never say the line “Did you think I would scurry away like a rat in the passageways.” without giggling. Although these thoughts did plague his mind with guilt. He had been with Olivia for 3 years. She was his childhood friend, his first love but now nothing felt right anymore. They would see eachother at school and talk a bit but other than that they never spoke. Olivia was moving to France at the end of the year to go to a private school close to some of her family. Francis had always felt subconsciously happy by that, because it meant they both knew it was coming to an end. Although he didn’t realise it at first, he was slowly separating himself from Olivia although it wasn’t to lessen the blow.  
“I reckon scene 5 because that one needs the most practice!” Francis got up off the bed dropping his script at his feet.  
“You needn't worry about that. But there is something I should tell you.” Mary spoke slowly contemplating her words.  
“If you mean to tell me that you've been in his arms, you needn't bother. I saw you. I saw you both.” Francis replied bitterly. The anger in his eyes grew stronger.  
Mary stumbled on her words trying to explain herself.  
“It was a mistake, I wasn't thinking, and he…”  
“He what?!” Francis snapped, cutting her off.  
“Forgot that he was my brother? Forgot that you were my fiancée? I know that I've made mistakes with Elizabeth. Seems like the biggest mistake that I made was being completely honest with you. I've been nothing but since you returned, and each time I've paid the price. Well, tonight, Bash is paying the price as well.”  
Mary stood there tears slowly brewing in her eyes watching as Francis started to turn away.  
“I didn’t realise!” She yelled at him, marching up closer to him.  
“I've warned you of the stakes of life at court. I told you that we can't act on whim, on feeling. You didn't listen.”  
“I did!” Mary yelled her voice quivering and a tear threatening to fall down her cheek.  
“Then why are we here now? And who will my brother be when he returns?” Francis threw his hands up walking out of the room. Francis could hear Mary’s breath still heavy from the hallway outside his room. Never before had he been so excited for a drama assignment.   
“You crushed that!” Francis exclaimed, popping his head back around the doorway.  
“Says you, you basically carried the whole scene. I had like 3 lines.” Mary laughed flopping back onto his bed. He sat down next to her and stared up at his ceiling.   
“If we don’t get an A+ I’m sewing!” He shouted laying back and hitting his head against his pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kinda short but oh well


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mary and Francis perform their assignment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been so long since I posted I finished this chapter as while ago and forgot about it sitting in my drive.

Mary woke to the obnoxious buzzing sound of her alarm at 7:30 am. With a huff she threw the covers off her bed rolling off the side nearly knocking into her bedside table.  
As she absentmindedly went through their morning routine of brushing her teeth and hair, getting dressed, packing her bag and getting breakfast she had a slight feeling that she was forgetting something. She had done all her homework. She didn’t think she had PE today so it wasn’t her uniform. 

Mary ran down her stairs jumping up to slide on the railing towards the end and dashed into her kitchen. She rummaged through her cupboard pulling out an Up and Go and a muesli bar before stuffing her lunch into her bag and grabbing her keys. Just as she shut the door behind her and began stepping out onto the front lawn she heard a buzzing coming from inside the house. Her phone.   
Doubling back into the kitchen she grabbed her phone off of the bench and answered the call. What had grown to become quite a familiar sound beamed through the phone.  
“You ready Mary? It’s the big day!” Francis exclaimed huffing through the phone. Mary guessed he was on his bike riding to school as he did most days.  
“Ah oh my god that’s what I forgot, shit!”  
Mary dropped her phone back on the bench and ran up the stairs to her bedroom. God my rooms a mess she realised now having not the slightest clue where she could have left her script. She pulled out all the books from the tote bag she used last week and when that came back empty she started pulling everything out of her desk draws. Shit! She exclaimed as her notebooks slid off of her desk onto the floor. That’s a mess for tonight, no time right now. Finally she located her script on the floor under her bed, she was up late last night reading through her lines to get that perfect.   
Running back down the stairs she grabbed her phone noticing Francis was still on the line.  
“Sorry about that. I’m ready!”   
She opened the front door once more, locking it behind her and headed to the train station. Mary made her train with only 2 minutes to spare.

-/-

Drama was the last two periods which made the day feel like it was going for years. Also having double mathematics first wasn’t making the day feel any shorter. Mary always hated maths which was odd considering both her mother and father excelled in that subject. Even her half brother James seemed to get the smart genes. Although her maths marks (that she and her family rarely brought up, and for a reason) may be suboptimal Mary always made up for it in the subjects she thrived in. Being History, English and of course Drama.

Francis gave her shoulder a playful nudge as he slid into the seat next to her.   
“Hey you! What did you get on the Medieval History paper?” Francis smirked and she knew exactly what look that meant. They both had developed quite the competition in history classes. Battling to see who got the highest marks or got the most questions correct in class.   
This little competition had got them in great favour of the teacher Mr Rizzio who loved to have debates with them after class about their favourite monarchs. Mary’s face dropped as she slowly reached for her paper and shyly slid it face down across the desk. Francis replied with a sympathetic smile as he turned the paper over.  
“Wa Bam! 95%!” Mary cheered as soon as he saw the bright red mark circled at the top corner of the paper.  
“Well that’s just too bad.” Francis turned over his paper revealing a 98 clear as day on the front page. Francis laughed as a small pout spread across Mary’s face.   
“Aww no I thought I got you this time.” She sighed, rewarding his little performance with a punch in the arm.  
“Hey hey hey. Mary Stuart is many things but I didn’t think she was a sore loser.” That stupid smirk back on his face. God Mary hated when he beat him, and she especially hated that she liked his victory smile more than the win. She also hated the way his nose scrunched up when he laughed, or how his eyes changed from green to blue, and the way his hair looked like gold wool in the sun. She shook her head trying to get those thoughts out of her head, although what she might have hated most of all was that they never ever really left.

She sat at lunch with Lola, Greer and Aylee. The last obstacle she had standing in between her and drama class. All day all she could think of was the assignment which granted a few eye rolls from Greer when she would catch Mary whispering lines to herself.   
“All I’m saying is he’s kinda cute and he won’t stop staring at you!” Aylee raised her hands to her heart making everyone laugh.  
“Stop it he is not.” Lola demanded blushing. She tried hiding her face from the girls turning back to her sandwich.  
“He is to Aylee’s right.” Greer added crossing her arms at Lola.  
“Francis told me that he was talking about you the other day when all the boys went to the water park.”  
Lola shot up from her sandwich and turned to face Mary.   
“Really? What did he say?” Lola asked eagerly, dropping behind her food to scooch closer in the circle.  
“Nothing much just that he thinks you're pretty, and funny and he was listening to you singing in music.” Mary teased raising her eyebrows cheekily at her friend. Lola stuttered spinning around to search the oval for Julian. Mary gave Lola a subtle nudge on her arm and tuned to face her.   
“Francis told me he and Julian are going to the ice cream place after school. Francis is going to ditch him and study with me so you can go alone with Julian.” She pulled her hand away from Lolas ear and turned back to the group giving her a small smile out the side of her mouth. Mary knew if anyone else heard they would all be going crazy and embarrass Lola, so she wanted to keep it just between them to give her a fighting chance of making it to the shop before chickening out.

-/-

“Hey Stuart!” Mary turned around to see Francis jogging up the stairs behind her.   
“Hi! You ready?” Mary asks, wiggling her eyebrows at him. Personally she was freaking out about the assignment. Something about group work always made her anxious, if she stuffs up she’s impacting the whole team.   
“Oh yeah, Jack’s been preparing for some yelling.” Mary replies with a laugh and they continue the rest journey up to the drama room together.

The teacher had just called Mary and Francis up to the makeshift stage the class constructed at the front of the room. They had both gotten changed into their costumes that they stole from back stage and were getting into position. Mary wore a full length black dress with a gold lining and Francis sported a white shirt and brown leather pants. The shirt clung to his body revealing his athletic figure which made Mary look for a bit too long before she heard a cough from the audience pulling her eyes away.   
The class started muttering to each other as the lights dimmed signaling the start of the performance. Mr Blacburn stood behind the stage lights fiddling around the spotlight struggling to get it on the center stage.  
Mary could feel the red flushing her face as the nerves started to settle in. She needed to get the A. She needed to help Francis get the A. The last thing she wanted to do was let him down, and simultaneously embarrass herself in front of the entire class. The class who she was only recently acquainted with, the class whose names she still couldn't quite remember.   
Francis gave Mary an encouraging wink across the stage noticing her obvious nerves.   
“Mary, I've been looking for you everywhere!” Francis hurried across the stage to Mary reaching out for her hand. She flinched back stumbling to the chair behind her and Francis took a few steps back as a look of pain washed over his face.   
“We’ve caught and executed nine of the conspirators whose roles in the attack were confirmed. But severn..”  
“He’s dead.” Mary cut in softly. She looked down at her fingers, picking at the skin on her nails.   
Mary was slowly easing up on the nerves. Her cheeks almost completely restored to their resting color and her breath slowed as she got further in. The audience fell to silence as soon as Francis spoke and the teacher dropped the lights to start taking notes.  
“As are his accomplices. You were wise in using Lorenzo to help you find them.” She added, her face staying still as if unwavered by what she was saying.  
“You killed them….Together?” Francis stuttered quietly as if unsure of why he was adding the last part.  
“There was no time I had to act. I couldn't let them escape.”  
“But you can release the other prisoners now Jack. It's over.” She continued as Francis stood frozen across from her on the stage.  
“It's over.” She spoke breaking into a quiet sob.  
“Zara no.” Francis rushed over to her and slowly sat across from her on the seat. Measuring her reaction as he got closer.  
“This notion that we could put the pieces back together. I wanted to believe it. That we just needed to find these men, and punish them. But I realised. I can't change the fact that I- '' She froze approaching the end of her sentences, turning to Francis hoping he would continue so she wouldn't have to.   
“You blame me for what happened?” His voice was shaking and she could see him trying to keep up his brave face.  
“I know it's irrational. I know that. But….It just feels forever linked to you. To us.”  
“Zara, I was desperately trying to save your life. What would we have done differently if you had known the truth? What good would it have done to put you in that kind of danger?”  
I don't know? I don't know whether it would have gone differently or better but you never gave us a chance! And now we will never know.” She yelled, tears still streaming down her face.  
Silence settled over the two of them and Mary could hear some murmurs coming from the class.   
“I’ve had some time to think about it and I believe we should lead separate lives.” She rose from the chair and started to turn away before Francis's voice pulled her focus back to him.  
“What does that mean?”  
“It means we will continue to work together as king and queen but I will be your wife in name only.”  
“I can't do that. I won't.”  
“We wouldn't be the first people in history to do so.”  
“If you're talking about my mother and father, we are nothing like them. I love you Zara…. And you love me.” Francis stood there facing Mary. His eyes red with tears and his eyebrows pulled together.  
“And look where that love has brought us.” Mary said matter of factly only glancing at Francis for a short time before turning around and walking off the stage.  
The classroom stayed silent for a few seconds as all the lights started to turn back on. Mary quickly shuffled back up to the front of the stage wiping away her tears to stand near Francis who now had a massive smile spread across his face, despite the tears still staining his cheek.  
The class cheered as Francis and Mary took a quick bow and walked down to sit with the group.  
As they both walked down the stairs Francis grabbed Mary’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go and jogging to grab his stuff. She stopped as she reached the bottom staring at Francis as we sat down next to Leith and Julien. Raising her hands to her lips she let out a little laugh and sat down next to Lola.   
“You did AMAZING Mary!” Lola exclaimed, her face still awe struck. She gave Lola a grateful smile and turned to face the front ready for the next pair's performance.  
During one of the performances Mary looked over her shoulder to find Francis already looking back at her. He gave her a friendly smile before looking back to the stage.  
Had he been watching her the whole time?  
The thought brought the pink to her cheeks and Mary couldn't help but smile as she watched the rest of the performances.


End file.
